Astronauts have a cool demeanor and good people-skills,
but six months in a tiny spaceship with the same crewmates can
drive anyone to distraction.

Oct.
21, 2002: "Once, I was evaluating astronaut applicants,"
says psychiatrist Nick Kanas. "I asked them to give me some
examples of things that might cause stress." One applicant,
a test pilot, recalled the time he was flying an experimental
aircraft and it spun out of control. As the plane spiraled down,
he took out his manual, calmly thumbed through it, and figured
out how to pull the plane to safety. "His ability to temporarily
control his emotions was very striking," laughs Kanas.

Astronauts manage stress a whole lot better than most of us.
They have to because there's always some hazard looming: radiation
storms, space debris, the possibility of crashing--or just a
new list of things to do from ground control. It all adds up.

Above: Some jobs are more stressful than others.
Copyright: Corbis.com.

And then there's the stress that comes from dealing with other
people.

Space crews must live and work together in close quarters
24-hours a day, sometimes for months on end. They're also far
from home and family, which means they can feel both lonely and
crowded at the same time. It's enough to drive anyone to distraction.

Kanas, a professor of psychiatry at
the University of California and the Veteran's Hospital in San
Francisco, is studying the way astronauts behave under these
demanding conditions. His research began with the shuttle-Mir
program in the 1990's, and now he's working with the crew of
the International Space Station. As part of the project, called
Crewmember and Crew-ground Interactions during International
Space Station Missions, astronauts
and cosmonauts answer weekly questionnaires for Kanas about their
moods, feelings and daily lives in orbit.

For example: Like that test pilot, many of those who go into
space are able to suppress their emotions when they need to.
That's a valuable trait, not only for astronauts but also for,
say, surgeons and fire fighters, because it helps get things
done.

"The problem," says Kanas, "is if you suppress
your emotions for months on end, it can wear you down."
The trick is to be able to suppress your emotions when you're
in crisis, but then to relax enough to experience your feelings
when things aren't so stressful.

Astronauts in general tend to be skilled at knowing when to
suppress their feelings and when to deal with them. "It's
just that sometimes, [in space] they're under so much pressure
they find it difficult to relax," he says.

When that happens, astronauts tend to socialize with each
other less and less. After months of being together, they can
grow tired of hearing one another's stories. Tension mounts.
One way of relieving that tension is by blaming mission control.

This is called "displacement" and it's a very common
way to deal with stress. People do it all the time, for example
by yelling at their kids instead of their boss. Displacement
provides the short-term benefit of relieving tension. But it
hurts the family, and it doesn't deal with the problem.

"We found that when crew members reported being under
stress, those were the times that they perceived a lack of support
from the ground." Likewise, when mission control was under
stress, they tended to perceive a lack of support from management.
Displacement again. In the long run displacement is toxic because
it lets the real problems fester.

Problems that arise during a few-month stint on the ISS are
likely to be even worse during a mission to Mars. A Mars crew
will be away for about three years and during that time they're
going to be astonishingly isolated. Any psychological problem
that comes up, they'll need to handle on their own. "The
more training we can give them, the better," notes Kanas.

Below: The planet Mars. Humans who go there will spend
more time in space than anyone has ever done before. See "Houston,
are we there yet?" from Science@NASA.

Research
suggests that the moods of astronauts might change in a predictable
pattern over the course of a long mission. In Antarctic expeditions,
for example, some studies found a blip of depression about midway
through. "The conventional thinking," says Kanas, "is
that on a long term mission, you work your way through the first
half, you get to the half-way point, you say, 'Wow, I made it
to the half-way point' and then you say, 'but wait! I've got
another half to go." And then a temporary depression may
set in." If that pattern holds in space, astronauts on a
journey to Mars will need to be aware of, and expect, it.

The kind of support that the astronauts will need from their
commander might also change as the mission progresses. For example,
scientists have found that at the beginning of an expedition,
the leaders rated most highly were those who were task-oriented,
and got things done. But later, the most appreciated leaders
were those that focused on morale, on how people felt.

"We need to train the commanders to think about that,
so they can emphasize that aspect of their leadership at the
appropriate time."

Kanas's
ongoing study will lead to a greater understanding of these patterns.
"This is the basic science of group behavior," he says.
"It's all the kind of stuff that affects humans relating
in any environment, but it's brought out more strongly because
in space, people are isolated, confined, and under more pressure."
His findings will certainly aid fire fighters, police officers,
doctors in emergency rooms--anyone in a high-stress environment.

Left: Fire fighters are among those who will benefit
from Kanas's research.

And they might even help the rest of us who cope with more
mundane problems. Maybe you'll never need to dodge a piece of
space debris or pull a malfunctioning airplane out of a spin.
But, at some point, you'll probably have to take your kids to
a mall!

Long-duration astronauts need people
skills -- (CBS News)
"I don't care who you fly with, it could be your best friend,
there are going to be times where you get on each other's nerves,"
says space station astronaut Daniel Bursch.

Space Roommates -- (Spaceflight.nasa.gov) In this letter home
from space, astronaut Dan Bursch tells what it's like to live
in close quarters with two other space travelers.

ISS crewmember and crew-ground interactions -- (MSFC) This ongoing experiment will
identify and characterize important interpersonal and cultural
factors that may impact the performance of the crew and ground
support personnel during International Space Station missions.